Johns Brothers, Inc.

In the Matter Of JOHNS BROTHERS, INC., HOLZBAUGH MOTOR SALES, INC., JEFFERSON LINCOLN-MERCURY, INC., Russ DAWSON, INC., BOB FORD, INC., HETTCIHE MOTOR SALES COMPANY, A. W. REISTER, INC., MOW- BRAY-FINCH, INC., PARK MOTOR SALES COMPANY, W. B. DEYO CO., GILBERT -MOTOR SALES, INC., SOUTHWESTERN MOTOR SALES, INC., FLOYD RICE COLLISION, INC., BACKUS-LETTS, INC., CLARENCE BELL, INC., ALFRED F. STEINER, Co., MILLENBACH MOTOR SALES, AL LONG, INC., Louis I. COTE, INC., DAVE KENNEDY COMPANY, COOGAN-SHU- MERSKI, INC., MARK CONRAD, INC., EMPLOYERS and INTERNATIONAL UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AIRCRAFT AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLE- MENT WORKERS OF AMERICA, UAW-CIO, PETITIONER Case Nos. 7-RC-143 through 7-RC-1.19; 7-RC-151 through 7-RC- 155; 7-RC-273; 7- C-306 through 7-RC-312; 7-RC-373, and 7-RC-412.-Decided June 14,1949 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS Upon separate petitions duly filed,' a consolidated hearing was held before Cecil Pearl, a hearing officer of the National Labor Relations Board .2 The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.3 I The petitions and other formal papers in these consolidated proceedings were amended at the hearing to show the correct names of certain Employers 2 After the Order Consolidating Cases issued , but before these several cases were trans- ferred from the Regional Office to the Board, the Petitioner, with the Regional Director's approval, withdrew its petition filed in Matter of Floyd Rice Collision, Inc, Case No. 7-RC-273 This case is accordingly hereby severed from these consolidated proceedings, and we make no findings in the instant decision with respect to the issues raised therein. 'The hearing officer properly granted Machinists' Lodge No 698, International Asso- ciation of Machinists, herein called the Intervenor, motion to intervene as to the follow- ing Employers : Holzbaugh Motor Sales , Inc, herein called Holzbaugh ; Jefferson Lincoln- Mercury, Inc, herein called Jefferson , Russ Dawson, Inc ., herein called Dawson ; Hettche Motor Sales Company, herein called Hettche, W. B. Deyo Co, herein called Deyo ; Backus- Letts, Inc, herein called Backus-Letts , Millenbach Motor Sales, herein called Millenbach ; Louis I Cote, Inc., herein called Cote ; Dave Kennedy Company, herein called Kennedy ; and properly denied intervention as to : Mowbray -Finch, Inc., herein called Mowbray- Finch , Gilbert Motor Sales, Inc, herein called Gilbert , Clarence Bell , Inc , herein called Bell ; Alfred F. Steiner Co., herein called Steiner ; and Coogan-Shumerski, Inc, herein called Coogan - Shumerski The hearing officer erred in denying the Intervenor's motions to intervene with respect to the following Employers : John Brothers , Inc., herein called Johns ; Bob Ford, Inc., 84 N. L. R. B., No. 33. 294 JOHNS BROTHERS, INC., ET AL. 295 Upon the entire record in these cases,4 the Board finds:' 1. The Employers herein are Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury dealers, maintaining and operating authorized sales and service businesses in the Detroit, Michigan, metropolitan area. The Ford Motor Company plants from whom the Employers purchase products for resale are situated in Dearborn, Michigan, and Detroit, Michigan. The Em- ployers contend that, because they are engaged in business solely within the -State of Michigan and no substantial quantity of the products bought or sold by them flow directly across State lines, they % are not engaged in operations affecting interstate commerce within the meaning of the Act and the Board is without jurisdiction in these proceedings. 2. We find the above contentions of the Employers to be without merit. Our dissenting colleague bases his argument on the fact that the Employers herein are local dealers who themselves are not directly engaged in commerce to a significant degree. We, however, arrive at our decision because of the following facts : The vehicles and parts sold by the Employers before us are manufactured by a large industrial organization, the Ford Motor Company, which is engaged extensively in interstate commerce. The sale of its products by local agents directly affect Ford's operations. A breakdown in any portion of its industrial complex would have an inevitable effect on interstate commerce. We do not believe that the geographical location of these dealers in the same State where the finished products which they sell are manufactured or assembled is significant. As in the Kaljian case 6 the Ford operations in Michigan consist to a large degree of assembling finished products from many parts manufactured without the State of Michigan and the sale of these final products by the franchised dealers is only the terminus of the long route these articles have traveled in interstate commerce. Contrary to the Employers' con- herein called Bob Ford ; A . W. Reister , Inc., herein called Reister ; Park Motor Sales 'Company, herein called Park ; Southwestern Motor Sales, Inc , herein called Southwestern ; Al Long, Inc , herein called Long, and Mark Conra(l, Inc, herein called Mark Conrad. Matter of Triangle Hosiery Company, Inc, 65 N L. R. B. 69. Accordingly the ruling of the hearing officer denying the motion to intervene with respect to these Employers is hereby overruled , and the motions are granted. Subsequent to the hearing , the Intervenor herein submitted a showing of Interest with respect to certain Employers ( Mowbray-Finch, Gilbert, Steiner , and Coogan- Shumerski) in whose cases its intervention was previously denied at the hearing. As all such show- ings were acquired subsequent to the hearing, the request of the Intervenor to participate in elections other than those in which we have ordered it placed on the ballot is denied. See Matter of LaClede Gas Light Company, 81 N. L. R B 462 ; Matter of Gullett Gin Co., 72 N. L. R. B. 1101. Chairman Herzog took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Elections. 9 Matter of Kal)ian Chevrolet Company, 82 N. L. it. B. 978 ; and also see Matter of M. L. Townsend, 81 N. L. R. B. 739. 0 296 DECISIONS OF NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD tentions, we are of the opinion that the individual Employers' opera- tions affect commerce within the meaning of the Act. - 3. Questions affecting commerce exist concerning the representa- tion of certain employees of the Employers, within the meaning of Section 9 (c) and Section 2 (6) and (7) of the Act. 4. We find,7 that all employees of each Employer, individually and separately, including Russ Dawson, Inc., 16231 Woodward Avenue, 504 Earle at Woodward Avenue, and 2435 Park Avenue, Detroit,- Michigan; Al Long, Inc., 14550 Gratiot Avenue and 14606 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit; Holzbaugh Motor Sales, Inc., 10900 Charlevoix and 3575 Fairview Avenue, Detroit, excluding office and clerical em- ployees, new and used car salesmen, administrative and professional employees, watchmen, superintendents, service managers, shop fore- men, and all supervisors as defined in the Act, constitute separate ap- propriate units for the purposes of collective bargaining within the meaning of Section 9 (b) of the Act." DIRECTION OF ELECTIONS a As part of the investigation to ascertain representatives for the purposes of collective bargaining with Holzbaugh, Jefferson, Dawson, Hettche, Deyo, Backus-Letts, Millenbach, Cote, Kennedy, Johns, Bob Ford, Reister, Mowbray-Finch, Park, Gilbert, Southwestern, Bell, Steiner, Long, Coogan-Shumerski, and Mark Conrad, metropolitan area of Detroit, Michigan, respectively, separate elections by secret ballot shall be conducted as early as possible, but not later than 30 days from the date of the Direction, under the direction and super- vision of the Regional Director for the Seventh Region, and subject to Sections 203.61 and 203.62 of National Labor Relations Board Rules and Regulations-Series 5, as amended, among the employees in the separate units found appropriate in paragraph numbered 4, above, who were employed during the pay-roll period immediately preceding the date of this Direction, including employees who did not work dur- ing said pay-roll period because they were ill or on vacation or tempo- rarily laid off, but excluding those employees who have since quit or been discharged for cause and have not been rehired or reinstated 7 At the hearing, the Intervenor contended that all of the Employers herein are an Asso- ciation, and on that basis, the only appropriate unit is a single multi-employer unit How- ever, the Intervenor offered no evidence to sustain its contention and while previous labor relations with the Petitioner on behalf of several of the Employers, were individually con- ducted through an industrial relations firm, the Employers did not indicate a desire for joint or collective action 6 The unit, as described, insofar as Millenbach is concerned, applies only to its employees- working at the 2105 Russell Street address 9 Either participant in the separate elections directed herein may, upon its prompt request to, and approval thereof by, the Regional Director, have its name removed from, the ballot. 0 JOHNS BROTHERS , INC., ET AL. 297 prior to the date of the elections, and also excluding employees on strike who are not entitled to reinstatement, to determine whether they desire to be represented by International Union, United Automobile Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers of, America, UAW- CIO, or by, Machinists' Lodge No. 698, International Association of Machinists,10 or by neither. CHAIRMAN HERZOG took no part in the consideration of the above Decision and Direction of Election. MEMBER MURDOCK, dissenting : I can find no warrant in the record to support the finding of the majority that "the individual Employers' operations affect commerce within the meaning of the Act." This proceeding involves 21 retail Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealers in the Detroit area, each of whom is found by the majority to con- stitute a separate appropriate unit. Each dealer involved obtains his motor vehicles, parts and accessories, and other products from the Ford Motor Company located in the Detroit area. Practically all of the sales of each dealer are made in the Detroit area. Some of the dealers make no out-of-State purchases or sales whatever. In the case of those who do, the dollar volume of such out-of-State purchases or sales represents, in most instances, only tiny fractions of 1 percent of the total purchases and sales. Accordingly, except for these incon- sequential fractions of a percent, we are dealing with Michigan em- ployers who purchase automobiles manufactured in Michigan and resell them in Michigan. The majority says that the dealers' operations affect commerce de- spite the fact that the cars they sell are manufactured within the State of Michigan, because the Ford Motor Company purchases some of the parts used in the manufacture of its cars from out-of-State concerns. The theory presumably is, if a dealer is shut-down and doesn't pur- chase his quota of cars from Ford, Ford will of necessity make fewer cars and therefore will purchase fewer parts from out-of-State con- cerns, thus decreasing the interstate flow of parts. Apart from the fact that such an effect of the dealers' operations on commerce would be remote rather than direct, I question whether a work stoppage at the place of business of any one of the dealers involved herein would have any effect-direct or indirect-on interstate commerce. "Machinists Lodge No. 698 , International Association of Machinists , name will not appear in the elections involving employees of Mowbray -Finch, Gilbert, Bell, Steiner, and Coogan-Shumerski, as it was not permitted to intervene in those proceedings. Footnote 3, supra.